castlevaniafandomcom-20200223-history
Balore
Balore is a boss in the Castlevania series. He is a demon whose very gaze induces terror. Origins Balore is taken from the Celtic mythology of Ireland. Balor was the king of a race of giants known as the Fomorians who possessed unusual physical properties, Balor himself having only one eye. As a child, Balor was observing druids preparing noxious spells and the fumes entered his eye, this granted his eye incredible destructive power and so his eyelids grew heavy so that the destructive forces could be contained behind them. In the Castlevania series, Balore is giant and wields a destructive eye-based attack, both features shared with his origin. The most recent interpretation shows severe damage to Balore's face (perhaps a remainder of his childhood incident), as well as a deathly gray color to his skin in Dawn of Sorrow onward rather than the normal, somewhat bronzed tone he had in Aria of Sorrow. Description A giant imprisoned in the depths of the castle from times long forgotten. Pure rage fuels this monstrosity and he recognizes no allies, destroying everything and everyone who dares to cross his path. His right eye has the ability to unleash a devastating energy beam (the Portrait of Ruin version is just an horizontal-swapped sprite of the one in Dawn of Sorrow, making him fire from his "left eye" instead). Appearances ''Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Noted as "a demon with a fear-inducing gaze", Balore is a fearsome enemy. When Soma first enters the boss room at the Arena, he finds a swarm of bats hanging on the ceiling. These quickly fly to the center of the room as soon as they notice his presence, coalescing into another, more powerful creature: the Giant Bat. Its dramatic appearance doesn't last long, however, as a giant hand suddenly comes out and crushes it instantly in a rain of blood, while a dreadful chuckle can be heard in the background. Balore enters the scene, only peeking his face and arms into the room, unable to enter due to his colossal size. To fight him, Soma must attack his left eye while looking out for Balore's fists. Upon reaching 2,000 HP, Balore switches to his right eye instead and constantly sweeps the ground with beams that leave a trail of fire. In this phase, his DEF drops to 10. The easiest way to defeat him at this point is to use the Medusa Head's soul, Vector ZERO, to hover near his eye, avoiding the ground fire and gaining a clear shot. Defeating Balore rewards Soma with his and the Giant Bat's souls. Balore's soul provides him with the Balore Punch ability, an extremely powerful punch attack, whilst the Giant Bat's soul grants him the ability to transform into a bat and fly. ''Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Soma once again encounters Balore in the Wizardry Lab, who demonstrates his power by destroying a massive wall of ice that stands between him and Soma. This time around Balore has been completely redesigned. His skin is now blue and the upper half of his body is shown on the left hand side of the screen, perhaps to show that he has indeed been slain by Soma, but has come back to life through a zombification process. The player can also stand on Balore's fist to be at level with Balore's face. Balore's face is shown to have rotten on one side and being metal bolted on the other. The rotten side of his face can be seen when he screams and fires his eye beam, or when he is killed and disintegrates. Balore is weak against Piercing and Slashing attacks (both attributes being easily obtainable at this point of the game) and shouldn't pose much of a threat. ''Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin In ''Portrait Of Ruin, Balore appears in the Nest of Evil as the first boss. He has the same appearance and attacks from Dawn of Sorrow, only now faces the opposite direction, which may slightly confuse players who were familiar with his attacks in the previous game. He is also the first boss to challenge players in the first Boss Rush course. Item Data Gallery AoS 110.png|'Balores enemy list entry from ''Aria of Sorrow Balore.png|'Balore' from Aria of Sorrow Balore DoS Trailer.png|'Balore' in the trailer of Dawn of Sorrow Trivia *According to the NTT Pub Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Official Guide, Balore was originally meant to provide his energy beam as a soul power instead of his characteristic punch.NTT Pub Castlevania: Akatsuki no Minuet Official Guide: 飯田：バロールというボスがいますが、 最初はバロールからはレーザが手に入る予定でした。でもレーザーを撃つソウルって意外と多いんです。 それで「いや、 レーザーはもういいよ」という話になって (笑)、 急遽パンチに変わったんですよ。 Lida: There is a boss named Balore. At the beginning, it was programmed to get a laser from this Balore. But there were so many surprises from shooting a laser. This is why (I said): "No, I do not want a laser" (laughs), and so this thing became a fist. See also *Fomor References es:Balore Category:Demons Category:Irish Monsters Category:Platform Bosses Category:Aria of Sorrow Bosses Category:Dawn of Sorrow Bosses Category:Portrait of Ruin Bosses